American documentary photographer Alec Soth's work has a strong element of narrative and metaphor, making it not just powerful imagery to enjoy, but worthwhile instructional material for improving our own photos. This fantastic video essay takes a look at Soth's work, how it creates such powerful narratives, and how we can use the lessons we take from it in our work.
Coming to you from T. Hopper, this fascinating video essay discusses the work of Alec Soth. One of the most fundamental lessons in the video is learning to see mistakes as opportunities for growth rather than failures, but another lesson I found particularly interesting was the idea of vertical versus horizontal growth as a creative. Horizontal growth is when we can repeat something we were already successful at. That might not sound like growth, but one of the hallmarks of an accomplished photographer is consistency of quality. Vertical growth, on the other hand, is when our creativity or techniques reaches new levels, enabling ideas and approaches that would not have been possible before. Ideally, we should aim for both at most points in our careers. There are a lot of fantastic insights and compelling images in the video, so be sure to give the full essay a watch up above.
